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(RNS) — In a special vote on Sunday and Monday (Oct. 25-26), members of one of the largest United Methodist churches in the country elected to leave the denomination, setting up what is likely to be a prolonged court challenge.

Following two days of in-person voting by 4,775 of the 15,000 members of Dallas’ Highland Park United Methodist Church, some 90% elected to withdraw from the United Methodist Church. The church did not provide the exact vote count.

The move comes in response to a heated dispute between the church and the denomination’s regional governing body. In August, that regional governing body, called the Horizon Texas Conference, sued Highland Park over changes that the church made to its governing documents that attempted to chart a more independent course.…